Mercy (Whitehead) Sackett (abt. 1663 - abt. 1743)

Born about 1663 in Jamaica, Queens, New York

Ancestors

Wife of Thomas Betts Esq. — married 1683 in Suffolk County, NY

Descendants

Died about 1743 at about age 80 in New York

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Biography

Mercy was a daughter of Daniel Whitehead and Abigail Stevenson. Mercy, the wife of Thomas Betts, is mentioned in the will (written 13 November 1703) of her father, Daniel Whitehead.^[1]

Marriage: 1683 Capt. Thomas Betts, son of Richard Betts and Joanna Chamberlain^[2]

Marriage: 1711 Capt./Col. Joseph Sackett, son of Simon Sackett Jr. and Sarah Bloomfield.

Daniel Whitehead, 1603-1668, the grandfather of Mercy Whitehead, the third wife of Capt. Joseph Sackett, was the founder of the Long Island branch of the Whitehead family. He came to New England with the early colonists and migrated to Long Island, N. Y., during, or previous to the year 1647, under which date his name appears amount the proprietors of Hempstead. In 1650 he purchased land in Smithtown, and later, in Oyster Bay, in Huntington, and on Lloyds Neck. Riker says that "he located at Mespot Kills, was a reputable citizen and one of the seven persons to whom the first Newtown Patent was granted." He was chosen a town surveyor in 1668 and died on his farm at Mespot Kills in November of that year. He was at the time of his death one of the two Overseers, or Chief Magistrates of the town.

Major Daniel Whitehead, son of above and father of Mercy Whitehead (Betts) Sackett, was married to Abigail Stephenson, daughter of Thomas Stephenson, and settled in Jamaica, of which town he was one of the patentees. According to local historians he was a man of enterprise and wealth. Politically he was a Jacobite. The ancient records show that he was a magistrate, a member of the committee of safety, a representative in the Colonial Assembly and a trustee of the parish church. His will, dated November 13, 1703, and proved October 30, 1704, disposes of land in Jamaica, Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Flushing, Orange County and Suffolk County, all in the Colony of New York.

In the list of grievances enumerated in the historic anonymous pamphlet published in New York and republished in London in 1700, attacking Leysler.s administration, the following appears :

"On the 13th of January this usurper Leysler, sends under the command of Lieut. Churchill twe nty soldiers over to Long Island, the next day they come to Jamaica, where they in a violen t manner by force of arms broke open the house of Mr. Daniel Whitehead, one of his Majestie s Justices of the Peace appointed by our Governor Sir Edward Andros, and being entered into the house they in like manner aforesaid broke open several chests and boxes, but found not what they looked for and so returned the next day without doing any more mischief as we yet hear of."

On May 19th following, Stephen Van Cortlandt, Mayor of New York, in writing to Sir Edward Andres an account of the progress of the Leysler revolution mentions the fact that he, with Captain Jackson, Daniel Whitehead and several others had been obliged to "flye from their homes to escape imprisonment at the hands of Liesler.

Mercy died sometime after 1719.

Sources

1. ↑ Frost, Josephine C. Ancestors of Henry Rogers Winthrop and His Wife Alice Woodward Babcock, ([New York?], 1927) , page 552.
2. ↑ Torrey's New England Marriages to 1700 Volume 1, page 138 (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015, which states: BETTS, Thomas2 (-1709) & Mary?/Mercy [WHITEHEAD] (1663-), m/2 Joseph SACKETT; ca 1683; Newtown, LI {NYGBR 33:102, 65:249; Newtown LI 374; Miner Anc. 189; Sv. 1:173; Winthrop-Babcock 552; Stevenson 133; Strong 146-7}

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=tinzhaven&id=I9315
• Riker, James, Jr., The Annals of Newtown, in Queens County, New York (D. Fanshaw, New-York, 1852) Page 345